Heads or Tails

A look Inside the Pairing Process for the First Two Rounds of the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

U.S. Open Cupby Jeff Crandall on Apr 8, 2015

The 102nd edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup begins with two play-in matches on April 25. In advance of those games, the U.S. Soccer Federation
conducted a coin-flip to determine first and second round pairings, as well as hosting scenarios, on Wednesday, April 7.

While you can see all the pairings for the first round and potential scenarios for the second by clicking here, below is a blow-by-blow explanation of how
things played out for the first two rounds.

First Round Draw
Two main provisions guide pairings for the first round: 1) Teams will be paired geographically and 2) Teams from the same league or association (PDL, NPSL,
USASA, etc.) cannot face each other. In the case where three or more teams are from the same geographic proximity, pairings will be determined by random
selection, which is usually, a coin flip or series of coin flips.

Based on that criteria and teams who applied to host (bolded), 14 pairings were made straight away without flipping any coins. They are:

Visitor

Host

SW Florida Adrenaline - FL (PDL)

Miami United - FL (NPSL)

Triangle Brigade - NC (USASA)

Upward Stars - SC (NPSL)

Greater Binghamton FC Thunder - NY (NPSL)

Western Mass Pioneers - MA (PDL)

Fort Pitt Regiment - PA (NPSL)

West Virginia Chaos - WV (PDL)

Ocala Stampede - FL (PDL)

Chattanooga FC - TN (NPSL)

Seacoast United Phantoms - NH (PDL)

Mass Premier Soccer - MA (USASA)

Madison Fire - WI (USASA)

Des Moines Menace - IA (PDL)

NTX Rayados - TX (USASA)

Laredo Heat - TX (PDL)

KC Athletics - KS (USASA)/Harpo’s - CO (USSSA) Winner

BYU Cougars - UT (PDL)

Kitsap Pumas - WA (PDL)

FC Tacoma 253 - WA (NPSL)

Chula Vista FC - CA (USASA)

FC Tucson - AZ (PDL)

Golden State Misioneros FC - CA (PDL)

PSA Elite - CA (USASA)

Burlingame Dragons - CA (PDL)

Sonoma County Sol - CA (NPSL)

Cal FC - CA (USASA)/San Francisco City FC - CA (US Club) Winner

Ventura County Fusion - CA (PDL)

From there, five other matchups were pre-determined, but needed a coin flip to award hosting rights as all 10 clubs applied for the right to host matches.
Heads/Tails assignments were determined by alphabetical order of matchups. The results of who won flips were as follows:

Club

Heads

Tails

Club

Maryland Bays (USASA)

X

Reading United A.C. -PA (PDL)

AC Connecticut (PDL)

X

Virgina Beach City FC (NPSL)

Detroit City FC (NPSL)

X

Michigan Bucks (PDL)

Midland/Odessa Sockers - TX (PDL)

X

Tulsa Athletics (NPSL)

Lansing United - MI (NPSL)

X

RWB Adria - IL (USASA)

The final two first round matchups had to be determined by coin flip, as four teams in the New York/New Jersey area were from close enough geographic
proximity to warrant it, and two, the PDL’s Jersey Express and Long Island Rough Riders, applied to host first round games.

In this instance, the NPSL’s Brooklyn Italians were assigned heads and the USASA’s New York Greek American Atlas tails, in a flip to determine who would be
paired with Jersey Express of the PDL. The coin showed tails, setting up the final two matchups as we see below:

Visitor

Home

New York Greek American Atlas (USASA)

Jersey Express (PDL)

Brooklyn Italians (NPSL)

Long Island Rough Riders (PDL)

Proceedings then moved on to determine pairings and hosting scenarios for the second round where professional USL teams enter the competition. As in the
first round, 15 pairings were determined by sensible geographic proximity.

For this exercise, first round pairings were assigned Heads and USL teams, Tails. Teams that applied to host are bolded below along with the coin flip
results:

Heads

Tails

(Chula Vista FC)/FC Tucson

X

Arizona United SC

NTX Rayados/Laredo Heat

X

Austin Aztex

Triangle Brigade/Upward Stars

X

Charlotte Independence

Maryland Bays/Reading United AC

X

Harrisburg City Islanders

Cal FC/San Francisco City FC/Ventura County Fusion

X

LA Galaxy II

Golden State Misioneros FC/PSA Elite

X

Orange County Blues

AC Connecticut/Virginia Beach City FC

X

Richmond Kickers

Greater Binghamton FC Thunder/Western Mass Pioneers

X

Rochester Rhinos

Burlingame Dragons/Sonoma County Sol

X

Sacramento Republic FC

Madison Fire/Des Moines Menace

X

Saint Louis FC

Kitsap Pumas/FC Tacoma 253

X

Seattle Sounders 2

Detroit City FC/Michigan Bucks

X

Portland Timbers 2

New York Greek Americans/Jersey Express

X

New York Red Bulls II

A further two pairings were pre-determined but didn’t require coin flips as one or another side of the bracket did not apply to host. They were:

Because two USL sides (Charleston Battery and Wilmington Hammerheads) matched up well geographically with two other first
round pairings, a coin flip determined that Charleston would host the winner of the SW Florida Adrenaline/Miami United matchup and dropped Wilmington into
a match with Ocala Stampede and Chattanooga FC. Because the Tennessee side applied to host, another flip was done, with the coin coming up tails and giving
Wilmington the hosting rights of that matchup.

Finally, to determine the pairings and hosting rights for the final four matchups, U.S. Open Cup Commissioner Paul Marstaller worked within the best
geographic proximity for all teams when possible.

First, Marstaller convened a flip for whether Colorado Springs Switchbacks or Real Monarchs would host the winner of KC
Athletics/Harpo’s/BYU Cougars matchup. The coin showed heads, giving Colorado Springs the matchup and dropped Real
Monarchs down to another pairing. A second flip went tails (remember USL sides are assigned tails in hosting flips), to give the Switchbacks home rights in
the second round.

Dropping to the next matchup, an initial flip was held between Oklahoma City Energy and Tulsa Roughnecks to determine which would face the Midland/Odessa Sockers / Tulsa Athletics winner. The coin showed heads, giving Oklahoma City the close matchup and dropping Tulsa into a
pairing with Real Monarchs. As Oklahoma City did not apply to host, the default hosting rights were awarded to the first round winner.

Real Monarchs and Tulsa Roughnecks went into a further flip to determine who would face the Seacoast United/Mass Premier Soccer winner.
The coin showed tails, giving Tulsa the matchup. As neither Tulsa nor Seacoast applied for hosting rights, a coin flip was done to determine who would host
in the event the New Hampshire side was victorious in the first round. It went tails, awarding Tulsa the match.

Finally, with Real Monarchs losing two flips already, the Salt Lake City-base side was dropped into the final matchup with the winner of the Long Island Rough Riders/Brooklyn Italians matchup. The USL club went 0-3 in flips on the day as the final coin showed heads, giving the
Rough Riders hosting rights if they win their first round match.

Out of 21 total second round matchups, three will require one team to travel outside reasonable geographic proximity:

In the first case, without another logical first round amateur matchup for Timbers 2, the decision was made to pair the team with Midwest-based Detroit
City FC or Michigan Bucks, who also didn’t have a logical USL pairing.

In the case of bullets two and three, the final pairing exercise was also setup to first pair some teams geographically, but to ensure teams that lost
flips would be traveling to the Midwest from the East Coast or vice versa.